Larceny Most Common Crime In Hartford

Of all the crimes against people or property in the city — murders, assaults, burglaries and the like — the crime reported more often than any other since 2010 has been shoplifting from the Walmart on Flatbush Avenue.

And more than 96 percent of those cases ended in arrests, including a Hartford police officer who allegedly tried to shoplift items while working a private-duty shift for the store on July 28.

A Hartford Courant analysis of data from the Hartford Police Department shows that while Hartford has plenty of problems with serious crime, the most common offenses here are low-level thefts, a third of which involve breaking into parked cars.

“Historically, that’s been a problem in Hartford,” said Deputy Chief Brian Foley, commander of the city’s major crimes division. “When handheld GPS and cell phones first came out, it was a huge problem.”

Those crimes seem to spike when new models — such as iPhones — are released, Foley said.

It’s a problem endemic to most cities in America, regardless of population. In 2012, larceny accounted for more than 68 percent of all property crime reported in the nation — nearly 5.5 million of 8 million reports, compared to about 1 million reports of violent crime such as murder or assault, according to data collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In 2013, the city saw a 21 percent decline in the number of arrests, especially for nonviolent crimes — all part of the city's strategy to focus on preventing violent crime, Foley said.

The clearance rate for murders, for example, has increased, he said. About 75 percent of the murders that took place in 2013 were cleared by arrest, he said.

Violent crime overall is down in the city, the data show. As of Aug. 9, the number of murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults were all down from this point in each of the last four years. There have been 68 shooting incidents so far this year, down more than 18 percent from 2013.

The decrease can be attributed in part to the cooperation of local, state and federal agencies that share information, as well as help from the community, Foley said.

“The community of Hartford has shown that it is fed up with crime in their neighborhoods, and they’re willing to be a partner in keeping their families safe,” said Mayor Pedro Segarra. Community policing has been a priority for Chief James C. Rovella since he took office in 2012, he said.

“To continue the progress we’ve made, it requires all of us working together,” Segarra said. "We are working to close the income gap and increasing access to education and jobs, and that will help reduce crime in the city."

“Everyone is on the same page,” Foley said. “We’re arresting the right people, we’re concentrating on the most violent people. … And the community is helping more than ever.”

While violent crime is down, the police have been making more drug arrests. There have been nearly 600 narcotics arrests so far in 2014 in Hartford, a 23.3 percent increase from 2013.

“We’re focusing on drug crimes that are tied to the most violent offenders,” Foley said.

The data show that Hartford’s single most dangerous neighborhood is the North End — what police refer to as the Northeast District, roughly from Greenfield Street to the Windsor town line between Main Street and Blue Hills Avenue. Keney Park is within its borders.

Since 2010, the area has been the site of more violent crime than any other neighborhood: more than 700 aggravated assaults, 300 robberies, 30 sex assaults and 18 homicides.

But the Clay-Arsenal and Upper Albany neighborhoods, although geographically smaller than the North End even when taken together, are more violent. The area, bisected by Albany Avenue just south of the North End, has seen more than 830 aggravated assaults, 430 robberies, 36 sex assaults and 31 homicides since 2010.

Those three northern Hartford neighborhoods taken together were the site of 1,551 aggravated assaults, 737 robberies, 48 homicides and 54 sex assaults since 2010. The Upper Albany neighborhood alone saw 23 homicides during the same time period, more than any other single neighborhood.

Just south of downtown, the neighborhoods of Frog Hollow, South Green and Barry Square taken together have nearly as much violent crime as the neighborhoods to the north.

Roughly bounded by Capitol Avenue and Interstate 84 to the north, Wethersfield Avenue to the east, Summit Street and Grandview Terrace to the west and Maple and White streets to the south, the area was the site of more than 1,000 aggravated assaults, nearly 700 robberies, 17 homicides and 66 sex assaults during the same time period.

Hartford police cleared more than half of all aggravated assault cases in 2012, compared with a national rate of 52.7 percent. Aggravated assault is a serious crime — vicious attacks and beatings that don’t result in homicide are often prosecuted as aggravated assault, as are certain motor vehicle crimes and serious domestic violence.

Walmart and Parked Cars

But most crime in Hartford involves lesser offenses.

Larceny — the theft of property — is the most common crime in Hartford. Some 3,500 larcenies are reported each year in the city, compared with about 1,000 burglaries (entering a building with the intent of stealing something or committing a felony), 600 robberies (attempting to steal something from a person by force or threat, considered a violent crime) and up to 1,000 motor vehicle crimes (including theft and tampering).

The clearance rate for larceny in Hartford in 2012 was 17.8 percent, just below the national average of 20.8 percent, according to FBI data. Nationwide, property crimes have a much lower clearance rate than violent crimes such as murder and assault.

The most popular place for getting caught shoplifting is the Walmart at 495 Flatbush Ave., the data show. More than 770 attempts at shoplifting were reported there, and 743 — more than 96 percent — were closed with the arrest of an adult (719) or a juvenile (24). Only 29 are still under investigation.

The neighborhood with the most larcenies, though, is Downtown — more than 1,800 since 2010, with only 220 arrests. Most of them took place at 1 Union Place, 50 Morgan St., 960 Main St. and 55 Trumbull St. — and more than half of the neighborhood total came from people breaking into parked cars.

It’s the same story city-wide. There are more than 5,400 reports of larceny from motor vehicles since 2010. Stolen license plates are big business too, with nearly 2,000 reports.

Motor Vehicle Theft A Problem City-Wide

Fewer cars are being stolen every year, both in Hartford and nationwide, the data show — partly because newer cars are more difficult to steal.

In 2010, there were 956 reports of stolen cars in Hartford. In 2013, that number dropped to 708, a decrease of nearly 26 percent.

Still, cars are regularly stolen throughout the city, the data show, and the number of stolen cars is up 35 percent so far this year: 480 vehicles had been stolen by Aug. 9 city-wide. Most stolen cars are models from the mid-1990s, especially Hondas and Toyotas, Foley said.

The Asylum Hill neighborhood alone had 420 cases since 2010.

But the single best place to have your car stolen is the parking lot at the Bowtie Cinemas at 330 New Park Ave.

Seventeen cars have been stolen there since 2010. No one has been arrested in any of the cases.Trinity College, at 300 Summit St., had the second-most motor vehicle thefts in the city. Sixteen vehicles disappeared from the campus area during the same period. There have been only two arrests.

Other popular places for vehicle theft include the area around St. Francis Hospital, an apartment nearby on Willard Street, the Walmart parking lot on Flatbush, a car dealership on New Park, the Union Place area Downtown and the UHaul center at 755 Capitol Ave. in Parkville.

Burglaries are the second-most common crime in the city, with more than 4,800 reported since 2010. More than 2,000 of them took place during the day; nearly 1,200 took place at night.

The South End neighborhood was the site of nearly 600 burglaries. More than 250 of them were residential burglaries that happened during the day.

The Walgreens at 161 Washington St. has been the site of more robberies than any other single address in the city — 39 since 2010, resulting in 23 arrests.